Thomas n



(No Model.)

T. N. STERRY 8v J. J. MURPHY.

BOTTLE.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

THOMAS N. STERRY AND JOHN J. MURPHY, OF NORVICH, CONNEGTICT; SAID MURPHYASSIGNOR TO SAlD STERRY.

BOTTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551,339, dated December10, 1895.

Application led May 6, 1895. Serial No. 548,216. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS N. STERRY and JOHN J. MURPHY, citizens ofthe United States, and residents of Norwich, New London county, State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBottles, which improvements are fully set forth and described in thefollowing specilication, reference being had to the accompanying sheetof drawings.

rlhis invention is in the class of bottles the construction of which issuch that the refilling of the same is prevented after they have beenonce emptied of their original contents.

Bottles of this description are especially sought after by themanufacturers or bottlers of some particular or superior brands ofliquids for the reason that after the contents have been used thebottles cannot be relled by unscrupulous persons with an article ofinferior quality, the sale of which would be detrimental to thereputation of the article originally put up in the bottles and thereforeinjurious to the business of suoli manufacturer or bottler.

The obj ect of our invention is to provide a bottle which shall meet therequirements of this class of devices and which shall be of simplerconstruction and of less cost than such devices now in use.

To assist in the explanation of our invention we have provided theaccompanying sheet of drawings, which illustrate the same as follows:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a bottle fitted up with our newly-inventeddevice, the neck of said bottle bein g in central vertical section inorder to more clearly illustrate our invention. Fig. 2 is a centralsectional view of a bottle-neck fitted up with our invention in a mannersimilar to the view Fig. 1 and serves t0 illustrate the manner ofoperation of our said device. Fig. 3 shows detached a portion of ourinvention which we have here termed a 3 screw-plug, said figureembracing enlarged plan and vertical central sectional views thereof.Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of a cap forming a portion of saidscrew-plug.

Referring to the drawings, the letter o, denotes an ordinary7 glassbottle, the same in general appearance as other bottles with theexception that the neck thereof is enlarged about midway its length toform a chamber h, and directly above said chamber an internal rib orring c is formed, having a screw thread cut therein, also that theinternal diameter of the neck above said ring is somewhat greater thanbelow the chamber. That portion of the bottle-neck above the rib or ringc receives and is closed by a cork or stopper in the usual manner, asreadily understood from the drawings.

The letter d denotes as a whole what wc have termed a screw-plug. Plug dis cy lindrical in shape and is provided at one end with a headedportion d', which latter is of somewhat greater diameter than thescrewplug proper and is threaded to correspond to the threaded rib c. Inassembling our device the plug d is introduced into the bottleshank endfirst and is screwed down by means of an ordinary screw-driver' orsimilar tool past the threaded rib c, the sh ank end thereof enteringthat portion of the bottle-neck be neath the chamber l), after which thecomplete plug is crowded down and its shank end made to iit tightly inthe bottle-neck with its headed portion d' extending into the chamber b,as readily understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

Screw-plug d is chambered as denoted by the letter e, said chamberextending from its shank end nearly throughout the length thereof. Theinner end of chamber e is provided with openingsf leading from saidchamber through the cylindrical walls thereof and midway the length ofsaid chamber are similar openings g. Chamber e is provided for thereception of a valve 7L, which is adapted to travel therein, thepreferred form of such valve being shown in Fig. 3. To retain said valvewithin the chamber e a cap d2 is provided, adapted to fit tightly on theshank end of the screw-plug, Fig. 8, or, if desired, may be screwedthereon. Cap d2 has an opening d3 extending therethrough and in the sameis provided a seat for the valve 7i., said seat conforming in shape tothe shape of the end of valve 71, with which it is designed to operateand being formed by decreasing the diameter of the opening d3, asreadily understood by reference to Fig. 3. It will now be seen IOO thatafter valve h has been placed in the chainL ber e and the cap d2 securedto the open end thereof, said valve may reciprocate within said chamberbut is prevented from leaving the same by reason of the cap d2. lt willalso be understond that when the screw-plug is in the position in thebottle-neck shown in the drawings, valve 7i is caused by gravity to restin its seat, but should said bottle be tipped upf7 as in the act ofpouring the contents therefrom, such action will cause the liquid toenter the hole di; and the pressure of said liquid upon the valve willforce the latter from its seat and drive the same before it in thechamber e until it has passed the open* ings g, (the position shown indotted lines in Fig. 3,) when the rliquid at once passes out through theopenings g and into the chamber l) and thence out through thebottle-neck in the ordinary manner as indicated by the arrows of Fig. 2.

lVhen the bottle is again returned to an upright position, the valve ltat once returns to its position in the valve-seat. lVhen in thelast-named position, any attempt to introduce liquid into the bottlewould be unavailing for the reason that such liquid must first enter thechamber c by means of openings g and f above said valve, and such liquidwould therefore result in but forcing the same the more tightly into itsseat. Should any attempt be made to force liquid into the bottle when ina horizontal or inverted position it will be seen that such liquid mustfirst enter the openings f (the chamber c being shouldered at c2 toprevent the valve 7L closing said openings) and thus serves to drivesaid valve before it into its seat. It will new be seen that any attemptto refill a bottle fitted up with our device would be unsuccessful.

To prevent the withdrawal of the screwplug d from the bottle-neck byscrewing the same back through the rib c we have so constructed saidplug that it is possible to drive the saine only in the direction properto screw it into the bottle-neck. This we accomplish by providing twoangular projections d4 d5 on the head d against which the screw-drivermay bear. These projections are located on opposite sides of the centerof said head, the surface of which consists of two circular inclinedplanes extending respectively from the bottom of projection d4 to thetop of projection d5, and vice versa. The construction of this featurewill be best understood by refer ence to the view Fig. 3, from which itwill be seen that a screwdriver bearing against the projections d4 (Z5will serve when turn ed in the direction of the arrow of said iigure tocorrespondingly turn the complete screw-plug, but should said driver beturned in the opposite direction it will be turned directly away fromthe projections and ride idly upon the inclined planes.

Assuming now that a bottle with a neck of the described form has beenprovided-also the screw-plug auxiliary th ereto-and it is desired to usethe complete device, the bottle is iirst filled in the ordinary manner,after which the screw-plug is placed in position in its neck as alreadyexplained, said bottle-neck being closed by an ordinary cork or stopperin the usual manner. When it is desired to pour the contents from thebottle the lastnamed stopper is removed, after which the contents arefree to pass through screw-plug d in the manner already described andthence out of the bottle, as indicated by the arrows of Fig. 2. Anyattempt to refill the bottle is prevented, as already explained, forshould liquid be introduced into the neck thereof it will but result inclosing the valve tightly, the latter being extremely light so that itis readily Iioated by said liquid.

Our device as a whole is very simple in iis construction and may be veryreadily assembled, is not expensive to produce, and performs in a verysatisfactory manner the office for which it is designec'l.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- 1. In combination with abottle, a portion of the neck of which is internally threaded a plughaving an enlarged threaded upper portion adapted to be screwed throughthe threaded neck, and having its lower end enlarged to fit tightly insaid neck; all substantially as specified.

2. In combination with a bottle, a portion of the neck of which isinternally threaded, a plug having an enlarged threaded upper portionadapt-ed to be screwed through the threaded neck and an enlarged lowerend that may fit tightly in said neck; said plug bein formed as a hollowsection open at its lower end and with lateral openings as set forth,and having loosely fitted within said tube a float valve, allsubstantially as specified.

THOMAS N. STERRY. JOHN J. MURPHY. Titnesses FRANK H. ALLEN, LILA D-PEALE.

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